Eternal Being
by giantzacface
Summary: I wonder what it's like to never die. Troypay.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I never have and never will own any portion of High School Musical, Disney or its characters.**

_Sharpay took a deep breath and stepped forward. This was not something that she would normally do but today wasn't, well, normal. The cool breeze played with her hair and sent goose bumps up her arms but she didn't seem to notice. She was too intent on what was in front of her. Taking another breath, she reached her hand out slowly, the determination set in her usually soft features. This was the night. This was the night she would finally end it all. For good._

Eternal Being

Sea of Mystery

"I can't do this any more," Sharpay hissed in an anguished whisper from behind her uneaten ham sandwich. Ryan looked up from his own lunch and studied his twin's face. Normally he would scold her for broaching this topic at school, but they were currently the only two at their table in the lunch room and the excited chatter of the surrounding almost graduated seniors buried any discussion they'd have.

Ryan sighed heavily and dropped his pizza back down onto his plate. "You don't really have a choice," he whispered back harshly, his face contorted into a false display of concern.

Sharpay wasn't fooled, she knew his irritation was bubbling just beneath the surface. Not wanting to anger him any further, she pressed her lips together in a thin line and looked down into her lap, her hands involuntarily wringing together. "I'm just," Sharpay paused, searching for the words. "I'm just tired of going through the same routine. Every time. I mean, what's the point, doing it again?" Her voice caught in her throat as the tears she'd been holding back all day threatened ever more presently to spill down her perfectly make-up'd face.

That was it for Ryan. With a deep scowl he leaned in closer, his eyes scanning the nearest students to see if they were listening. "Fine," he clipped sharply, satisfied that their conversation was still unnoticed. "Fine, you can't do it any more. I get it. So how do you suppose you're going to end it, huh, Sharpay? What's your plan? Because if you can figure something out then, please, do share! I've been stuck in the _same_ position you are for the _same_ amount of time and I've pretty well had it with your whining and self-pitying." Standing, Ryan violently grabbed his lunch tray and threw it into the trash before storming out of the cafeteria in such a dramatic display of rage that half the students in the room finally stopped their conversations to watch, the other half too afraid to be caught looking but listened none the less.

Sharpay sat where she'd been left, stunned motionless. Ryan was usually the collected twin, it wasn't often that he let his emotions get the better of him. But when they did, it always resulted in such an aggressive show that she was afraid he'd end up hurting somebody. Sharpay took a deep breath, willing the tears that were collecting behind her eyes to disappear.

She was slowly starting to gather her lunch, her appetite suddenly gone, when a familiar voice spoke from behind her. "Sharpay, are you alright?" he asked softly, so that only she could hear him.

Sharpay hesitated at the level of concern that was in his question but quickly forced herself to ignore it. Standing, she turned to face the boy with a sarcastic grin on her face. "It was just Ryan, Bolton. I think I can handle this one. Besides, I'm not one of your fair maidens that needs saving. I can take care of myself."

Troy's concerned expression quickly hardened as he bit back his response. "Whatever," He mumbled quietly, his eyes narrowing, before turning and rejoining his group of friends at a nearby table. Sharpay watched him walk away, sadness washing over her in thick waves. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her lunch, dumped it in the same trash bin that Ryan had so ferociously used and nearly ran out of the cafeteria.

/

He watched her from a distance, not sure whether it was safe to approach. He'd been out for a late jog when he saw her angrily stomping across the gravel on the path up ahead. Intrigued, he slowed his pace and watched as she strode up and back muttering under her breath. She was clearly still angry about whatever she and Ryan had been discussing at lunch that day.

Troy watched her a lot. In class, at lunch…right now. It was always from a distance and always with the sense that she was hiding something from the rest of the world. And it was that something that fascinated him and, at the same time, terrified him.

Tonight was no different. Watching her, Troy felt as though there was a sea of mystery suspended in the air between the two of them and he wasn't sure he was ready to swim through it just yet. Frustrated with his constant cowardice and berating himself on that very trait in his head, Troy slowly turned and took a step away, the crunching of the gravel beneath his feet deafening.

"Troy?" her small, confused voice floated through the sea of mystery, reaching Troy's ears and echoing in his brain.

Troy cringed slightly at his blunder but quickly changed his face to light surprise as he turned once more and exclaimed, "Sharpay? What are you doing here?"

Sighing sadly, she quickly averted her gaze to the ground and collapsed into the bench that was aligned with the path. "Just thinking," she said softly, almost too softly for him to hear.

Troy hesitated, the silence between the two teenagers growing. Did she expect him to leave? Does she need somebody to talk to? Was she annoyed by his presence?

She continued to stair at the pebbly trail, apparently lost in thought.

Had she already forgotten that he was standing right there?

"Have you ever just felt…trapped?" she asked suddenly, finally interrupting his extensive internal debate.

Troy paused, studying her intense gaze, still a short distance away. "Sure," he said too brightly, he was trying to sound encouraging. He cautiously worked to close the distance between them, all the while watching her reaction with an intensity he rarely knew. Her body had contracted ever so slightly with his answer, a look of dissatisfaction settling in her weary eyes but she said nothing about his approach.

Troy diffidently joined her on the bench, making sure to keep as much distance between their bodies as the small bench would allow. He still wasn't sure whether or not he was welcome and that sense of mystery – of secrecy – was still hanging thick in the air.

The two sat in silence, the only sound being the grass as it danced playfully in the breeze, clearly unconcerned with the tense atmosphere it contradicted. Sharpay remained in an infectious gloom, staring at something that Troy could not see; something far away. Troy watched her out of the corner of his eye, curious as to what could possibly make Sharpay Evans feel trapped.

Troy cleared his throat awkwardly. "Why do you feel - trapped?" he asked softly with a slight jerk in his voice, finally breaking the silence that had carried on for so long. Sharpay started at the sound of his voice and looked at him as though she'd forgotten he was sitting there. Troy was nervous she didn't want him to stay but she quickly softened her expression.

He was still safe.

Troy waited for an answer patiently but Sharpay just gave him a sad smile and shook her head, looking away and losing herself in thought once more.

Troy sighed but didn't leave. Couldn't leave. Something wouldn't let him go just yet.

The silence ensued.

A car squealed down the road somewhere in the distance and the sound of an ambulance siren could be heard echoing off of the small store fronts it was passing. Troy looked up to the sky and stared at the hundreds of stars glistening in the inky black existence.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Troy murmured softly.

Sharpay looked over curiously. "What?"

"Stars," he replied warmly, turning his gaze to stare straight into Sharpays wide, questioning eyes. "No matter what happens here – what horrors or disasters, what wars or plagues – the stars are always there. Twinkling down on us, as if pitying our fleeting existence here on Earth."

Sharpay's already wide eyes grew bigger with fear. "I should go," she whispered grabbing her purse that was laying on the stones beneath their seat.

"Wait, Sharpay!" Troy exclaimed, startled by her sudden, dramatic reaction. He stood as she did and, before she had a chance to run away, grabbed her wrist tightly in his strong fist. Sharpay gasped sharply at his touch and yanked her arm from his hand, staring at him accusingly with narrowed eyes.

But Troy didn't notice her expression as he was staring incredulously at his own hand, the one he had just grabbed her with, the one she had just ripped her arm out of. His hand had turned a bright, unnatural red and was fiery hot to the touch, though the feeling was rapidly fading. He slowly lifted his eyes to meet Sharpay's, they were both wearing different degrees of incredulity in their expressions. The two teenagers stood frozen for a moment, perplexed and unsure, until Sharpay lowered her gaze guiltily and mumbled in haste, "I should go," before turning and running down the path and out of sight.

/

"Are you sure?" Ryan whispered, though there was nobody else in the small, dark room.

"Yes, I wouldn't have imagined it. His hand was practically glowing!" she replied, also in a whisper, her brows furrowed together, deep in thought.

Ryan fixed her with a disbelieving gaze and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. This irritated Sharpay. "Yes, but are you _absolutely_ sure?" he asked more earnestly, doubtfully.

Sharpay rolled her eyes in response, but his skepticism was effectively causing her certainty to waver.

"It's just," Ryan closed his eyes and started to rub his temples vigorously. "I thought yours had died ages ago."

"Maybe they get reborn, I don't know," Sharpay shrugged hopefully and looked away, the guilt she'd felt earlier creeping back in unsolicited.

"So, are you going to do it?" he asked softly, his own sadness dominating his tone.

Sharpay looked up, indecision written all over her face. "How can I not?" she asked, trying to convince herself as much as her brother. "We can finally put an end to our misery. A misery going on two hundred years, now."

"Yeah, but it's Troy," Ryan reminded her in an infuriatingly sing-song voice.

Sharpay groaned. "I know! But, Ryan, you don't understand. I can not do this any more." She said each word forcefully, emphasizing her own pain in every syllable.

"Yeah, but it's Troy," Ryan said more quietly, gazing intensely and entirely serious, this time, into her eyes. Sharpay lowered her gaze, tears springing to her eyes, she hugged her knees close to her chest. "I mean, you could wait one more time. Till he's not…you know…_Troy_…anymore."

"And what if I can't find his reincarnation?" Sharpay asked bitterly through her tears, her feeble resolve already crumbling.

Ryan paused, slightly taken aback by her vehemence. "I just want to make sure you keep your perspective."

/

Troy stepped through the door to homeroom, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't dare to glance around the room until he was sitting safely in his seat. Then, with his backpack stowed under his chair and his elbows propping him up, he stole a glance in Sharpay's direction. She was sitting in her usual seat with her back turned to him, chatting away animatedly to Ryan who seemed to only be half listening. Troy's breath immediately caught in his throat as his heart gave another unexpected jolt.

Suddenly, almost as though she had heard the sporadic pounding of his heart, she turned around and looked directly at him, a strange uncertainty flitting across her eyes. Troy was embarrassed at being caught watching her but he couldn't seem to look away. The expression on her face was so vivid and yet so pained. They both sat frozen, studying the other's expression when, just as suddenly as it had happened, she turned away and continued her conversation with Ryan. It happened so abruptly, Troy wasn't entirely sure he hadn't imagined the whole thing.

But as Ms. Darbus was calling the class to order he saw her furtively take one last glance in his direction before turning her gaze to the front of the class to feign interest in Ms. Darbus's daily announcements. And he knew that his time for cowardice was over. He knew that last night marked the beginning of something, he did not know what just yet. But he knew that he was no longer standing on the banks of the sea of mystery. He had dived in, head first, and he had a small burn blister on the palm of his hand to prove it.

/

**I understand that this may be slightly confusing. I know that there is a lot currently going unsaid within the story. Just think, enjoy the ride, contemplate what could possibly be the mystery surrounding Sharpay (and the most clever of you will have probably read the summary and quite possibly figured out the bulk of it all ;)**

**Please Review! It helps so much.**

**Love you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I never did and never will own High School Musical, no matter how much I beg.**

__

The sun beat down hotly on Troy as he squinted up at the massive structure in front of him in slight bewilderment. He had never seen this building before in his life, yet he seemed to know that it was a school, of sorts. Of course, the masses of teenagers roaming the lawn all around him and the words 'Marysville High School' printed above the big green double-doors of the building leaned strongly to the affirmative in his assumption.

_Troy glanced around him at the students gathered in small clusters, chattering away excitedly. It was the first day of school, he suddenly knew, and he was most definitely not in Albuquerque anymore. Troy felt a bead of sweat trickle down his back uncomfortably, immediately bringing his attention to the thick humidity hanging heavily in the air. Nobody else seemed to be having difficulty with this, but Troy, not being used to the moisture, couldn't bear it. Rolling up the short-sleeves to his box-cut, button up dress shirt, Troy trotted through the mass of poodle skirts and muscle shirts to reach the front doors of the school and step inside, only to discover with great disappointment that the school was not air conditioned. Troy sighed, dolefully resigning himself to the heat._

_Suddenly, two very familiar looking teenagers stepped through a door to Troy's left and started walking down the hall, away from him, bickering quietly with each other. _

"_I still think you should have accepted his request to take you to the roller rink. It makes you a little conspicuous when you turn down every offer. Plus, it's just rude!"_

_Troy studied the retreating form of the boy who had just spoken and realized that these were the two people he hadn't known he'd been searching for this entire time. The two teenagers advanced at a slow pace, almost as though they were waiting for Troy to catch up. With quickened steps, Troy watched the teenagers ahead of him with great curiosity. The boy, wearing a loose blue school sweater and tight, straight-cut jeans, hair heavily gelled into place, was Ryan Evans. And he was accompanied by a girl in skin tight Capri's that ended well past her knees and a tight, white blouse that was tucked neatly into her pants. Her blonde hair was teased into a high, bouncy pony-tail and she held her books protectively over her chest._

"_Ryan? Sharpay?" Troy called out their names excitedly, expecting them to be astonished by his presence, but they didn't even seem to hear him. Instead, they continued on their slow moving path down the hallway, squabbling with each other. Troy followed, his curiosity getting the best of him as he listened closely to their conversation, not understanding their implications but sensing the urgency in their voices._

"_It is not rude! By my refusing, I'm allowing him more time to find someone who he'd actually get to spend the rest of his life with. Everybody already thinks I'm going to end up an Old Maid, anyway. No harm done." Sharpay replied shrugging her shoulders dismissively._

"_Yeah," Ryan said, the annoyance evident in his voice. "But you're drawing attention to yourself. It's not considered normal to be fine with being an Old Maid."_

"_Well, I'm not going to lie to these people, I don't want to lead them on. What's the big deal, anyway? Who care's if I stand out a little?"_

"_The big deal? What's the big deal?" Ryan hissed indignantly, flapping his arms in outrage as he glanced around to make sure that nobody was listening in on their conversation. Troy was certain Ryan had finally spotted him, considering he hadn't been trying to hide. In fact, Troy was the only other person in the hallway and barely three steps behind them, but Ryan, apparently satisfied that their conversation was still going unheard, simply leaned in closer to Sharpay and said, "The big deal is that Mother said we had to do our utmost to blend in. And you're not doing that!"_

_Sharpay laughed. "So what? What do you honestly think is going to happen to us if we stand out of the crowd a little, huh? We'll drop dead? It's worth a shot, isn't it?"_

_Ryan scowled but didn't respond, thinking over what Sharpay had said. Then, just as suddenly as his fowl mood had come, his expression changed to mirth and he started to laugh hysterically, clutching his stomach as he did so. Sharpay looked at him slightly apprehensively but soon joined in on his laughter._

_Finally, after a few moments of unabashed hilarity, Ryan was able to control himself and said, red-faced and wiping tears from his eyes, "You've got a point, there. Let's give it a shot."_

_Troy stopped dead in his tracks, disbelief at what he had just overheard coursing through him. He watched Ryan and Sharpay fade off into the distance, his surroundings quickly fading with them. It wasn't long before he was left in darkness, hoping against hope that Ryan and Sharpay learned to enjoy life enough to stop them from wanting death._

Secrets Revealed

"So, it's been a week, Shar," Ryan said tauntingly without shifting his gaze from the cracked, pebbly ground in front of him. He and Sharpay were trudging home from school in a detached silence, Sharpay shivering in the cool Albuquerque air. Ever since she had told Ryan about that night in the park with Troy, he had been treating her with a frosty civility. This was no exception.

Sharpay scowled. "So what?" she challenged more forcefully than she had intended.

"Well," Ryan sneered maliciously, the taunt still mocking her. "It's been a week and I can't help but notice that you, my dear sister, are still here."

Sharpay gasped at his blatant uncouth, the malevolence stinging her. "Stop it," she whispered as her increasingly frequent tears of frustration sprung unsolicited to her eyes.

"Having trouble hurting poor little Troy, are we? Or are you just working up the nerve to talk to his gloriousness?"

"What the hell is your problem, Ryan?" Sharpay's voice was rising angrily as she stared at her brother incredulously. Ryan abruptly halted his brisk pace at the urgency in her voice and turned his head to look at her for the first time that week. A heavy silence fell between the two as they both stood in the middle of the residential street staring intently at the other, their suppressed emotions plastered opening across both their faces. Sharpay still had tears in her eyes, though she refused to let them fall, instead fixing her face into a hardened glare as she watched Ryan try unsuccessfully to mask his hurt.

"Sharpay!" A strained voice in the distance called out, breaking the silence that had engulfed the twins.

Sharpay didn't move her studying gaze from Ryan's face, even as the voice called her name once more, slightly louder, as the speaker approached.

"Ryan?"

Ryan snapped his head toward the voice, more as an excuse to break the spell between Sharpay and himself than any actual curiosity. Suddenly the sneer reappeared on his face momentarily veiling the sadness that had settled in his eyes.

"You're Prince Charming has come to save you," he jeered dryly.

But once he'd finished speaking, his forced sneer fell pathetically from his face to be immediately replaced by sheer sorrow. Ryan turned his gaze to the ground, unwilling to look at his sister any more than was necessary and hastily readjusted the strap to the book bag that was resting heavily on his shoulder. Still not willing to make eye contact, Ryan stared past Sharpay's left shoulder as he snapped harshly, "If you're really going to do it, just do it and let the rest of us move on without you," before he turned and quickly trotted away. Sharpay was left stunned, still standing in the middle of the road, watching Ryan's rapidly diminishing form as a small bubble of guilt formed in her chest, constricting her airways.

"Was that Ryan leaving so quickly?" the voice that had been calling asked, finally having caught up to her, now standing to her right.

Sharpay sighed sadly and turned her gaze into Troy's ignorantly cheerful face. "Yes, that was Ryan."

"Oh," Troy nodded, waiting patiently for any sort of elaboration. But she didn't have any more to say. Shifting her weight on her feet nervously, Sharpay lowered her gaze and turned, swiftly following after Ryan, leaving Troy where he was. As she walked away she silently prayed to herself that Troy wouldn't follow, though at the same time she desperately wanted him to. Holding her breath, she loped ahead, listening intently to what Troy would do. She didn't have to wait long to hear the telltale sound of gravel crunching under heavy footsteps. Sharpay's stomach flipped in wild excitement as her heart sank miserably. It only took him three steps to catch up to her, her paces being considerably shorter than his and he easily fell into step next to her, his steps mirroring hers both in size and speed.

A light drizzle started to fall from the dark, low hanging clouds that had been threatening rain all afternoon as they both continued down the inert street in silence, the tension between them growing with each passing moment. Sharpay's heart was beating in a wild frenzy against her rib cage as she fought to control her breathing, all too aware of Troy's presence. She felt his gaze scrutinizing her profile curiously. However she refused to acknowledge it, instead keeping her focus in front of her, hands clutched tightly onto the strap of her book bag in order to hide their slight quiver. But, through all this and despite her mental chastising, Sharpay couldn't hide her look of contentment nor could she suppress the smile from appearing on her face.

Troy saw this smile form slowly and a light sense of elation filled him unexpectedly. Pleased, he mirrored her smile and unconsciously made a move to be ever so slightly closer to Sharpay's side.

Time passed quickly with Troy accompanying Sharpay down the road. They both felt as though they had been walking forever, yet like they had just begun. Troy watched as the houses became increasingly larger in size, their garages further apart with each lawn being more substantial than the last. The palpable tension had grown into a mutual anxiety as their silence continually lengthened, becoming almost impenetrable.

The rain was coming down a little bit harder now. Sharpay hugged her arms close to her body, still clutching to her bag's strap, as she shivered more violently. Troy pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head in a lame attempt to stay dry, and then shoved his hands deep into the sweatshirts front pocket, stretching it down past his hips and over the top of his pants.

On they walked, down the road and through the rain, both thoroughly uncomfortable with the situation but neither wishing to be anywhere else. Sharpay was startled at how aware of Troy's close proximity she had become and with how intensely each emotion seemed to come to her whenever he was near. It was painful and beautiful and exciting and miserable all at once and she reveled in experiencing the kind of passion she had never before understood. But, the more she enjoyed these emotions, the more heavily her guilt weighed on her soul and clouded her mind, causing her footsteps to drag reluctantly and her resolve to crumble miserably.

Seeing her house through the dark mist, Sharpay breathed an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, allowing her shoulders to relax from the anxious tension that she hadn't known she'd been harboring. Troy walked her up her driveway, to her front door and stopped just before the steps to her covered porch. Going ahead, Sharpay stepped up onto her porch and reached absentmindedly for the handle of her front door only to change her mind abruptly, dropping her hand and turning to face Troy once more.

"Thanks," she smiled at him still standing in the rain, his sweatshirt drenched. "Thanks for walking me home."

Troy returned her smile and nodded his head. "No problem."

Turning, he took a step down the long driveway to head home when he, too, changed his mind. Whipping around, he faced Sharpay who hadn't yet moved from her position on the porch watching him walk away, her damp hair frizzing and curling into a halo around her face. "A bunch of us are going to the diner later this evening to hang out. Do you think you could make it?"

Sharpay's smile instantly fell as reason came crashing back into her. Her newly intensified variety of emotions promptly deteriorated into nothingness in order to create room for her usual sense of dull gloom. Shaking her head distractedly, Sharpay backed up slowly, trying to get as much distance between herself and Troy as possible.

"I can't," she whispered, unable to speak any louder. Troy strained to hear her over the spitting of the rain pattering loudly on the roof of her porch. "You should stay away from me. If you were smart, you would stay away." Sharpay groped behind her for the door handle, unable to rip her gaze away from Troy's confused expression.

"Is this about Gabby? Because she wants you to come just as much as–"

"No, Troy," Sharpay snapped, a little louder this time. "Just listen to me, please. You do not want to get close to me. I promise you it won't end well."

Troy was startled by the pleading, almost remorseful note in her voice. He was too stunned to reply straight away, giving Sharpay all the time she needed to disappear behind her door, leaving Troy shocked and confused and standing in the pouring rain.

/

Having dried off her hair and changed into dryer clothes, Sharpay stepped lightly into her kitchen where her mother was humming softly to herself as she added spices to a large pot of spaghetti sauce. Sharpay sat down on the barstool and watched her mother work, always with a smile on her face. She hadn't thought that she'd made her presence known, but once Vivian had finished adding the basil, she turned and smiled at Sharpay's miserable demeanor.

"Hi honey, how was school?" she asked, her voice as cheery as it always was.

"The same," Sharpay replied dully, leaning her head on her hand and gazing off into the distance. A comfortable silence fell between the two woman as Vivian continued working on dinner, resuming her soft humming and allowing Sharpay to get lost in thought.

"Mom?" Sharpay asked suddenly, raising her head up and pulling her full attention into the present.

"Yes?" Vivian asked, fixing her daughter with a curious gaze.

"Can you tell me the story of our beginning, again?"

Vivian frowned. Sharpay rarely asked to hear this story, it always being Ryan who listened to, studied and memorized the details of their life's conditions. "Of course," she said, turning her back to stir the sauce.

"Can you start from the very first thing you remember?" Sharpay asked, her gaze focused very intently on her mother's back.

Vivian took a deep breath and cast her thoughts back to that day that changed their lives forever.

"The very first thing I remember is a white room," she began, speaking softly but piercing the silence, nonetheless. "The floor's were white, the walls were white, even the ceiling. There were no windows and there hadn't seemed to be any source of light, yet the room was as bright as a summer afternoon. I remember studying my limbs very meticulously, as though they were new to me, and I was shocked and pleased to find that I had no scrapes or marks upon my skin.

'Like I have said many times before, I don't know why I took particular notice to these things and not to others; it is simply what I remember. At that moment, somebody spoke to me, but I could not see who it was or where he was speaking from. But, for reasons unknown to me now, I did not find this bodiless voice strange or threatening in any way, therefore I didn't bother to question it excessively."

At this point Vivian stopped stirring the spaghetti sauce and moved to stand opposite Sharpay at the kitchen counter. Her hands rested lightly on the counter's surface and she stared through the window, above the sink and to her left. Sharpay studied her face intently, listening to the story she'd heard countless times before. Neither noticed Ryan step quietly into the room, remaining off to the side, leaning against the wall as he listened to the familiar tale despondently.

"The voice spoke to me with its deep, powerful tone. And it explained to me how we were all to be blessed with immortality. That we were going to live in society but never age with society. That we each had to find our one and then, and only then, could we acquire our eternal rest."

Vivian paused, remembering that moment that was so long ago, lifetimes ago. It had been burned into her memory with such clarity, she felt as though it had only just happened. Tears came to her eyes, giving her face a glassy expression, but she never let her smile slide. Still gazing out the window at the dark clouds beyond, she waited for Sharpay to ask the question she always asked at this point in the story.

"How will we know when we've found our one?" She asked softly.

Vivian sighed and shook her head sadly. "This was where the voice remained vague. Despite my questions, it simply repeated to me that you will know your 'one' when you find the person who wakes the dead that is inside of you. The person who makes you feel again. And when you find that person, all it takes is one kiss to finally achieve what other's strive to evade. Death. But it will be the ultimate sacrifice because your one can not live once you have passed on."

"In other words," Ryan said from the corner of the room, startling Sharpay and Vivian out of their quiet reminiscence, "to get the one thing that you so desperately want, the one thing that you've been longing for, you are going to kill Troy."

Sharpay looked down into her lap where she was wringing her hands together anxiously, guilt and frustration furrowing her brows together thoughtfully. "And there's no way around it? No loophole, no condition that the voice may have put out there?" she asked hopefully, though she already knew the answer.

Vivian shook her head sadly, "Nothing."

"How did we even get in to this situation in the first place?" Sharpay asked desperately. "What happened to us when we were growing up, what did we do to deserve this?"

"You know as well as I do," Vivian replied placing a calming hand on Sharpay's shoulder, wishing she could relieve some of her daughters despair. "I remember nothing before that white room."

"And we, nothing before our sixteenth birthday," Ryan supplied from the corner.

"And even that is a little foggy," Sharpay finished.

Vivian studied her children for a moment then turned to stir her spaghetti sauce once more. The intensity of their conversation quickly died away leaving the same questions that were always left hanging unanswered in the air. Ryan left the room just as silently as he had come, only Vivian was aware of his departure. Sharpay had already fallen into a deep meditation, her mind carrying her to a distant time and place where she was sure all the answers were buried.

/

**I just want to clear this up real quick, Ryan and Sharpay aren't vampires and this isn't supposed to be like Twilight, though I am honored that so many of you compared this story to such a popular book.**

**No, I actually got the idea from The Sims, believe it or not. I realized how each generation of Sims makes friends with the same characters who never age and I started to think how awful it would be to be forever sixteen.**

**Anyway, now that you've read, please just take a short moment to drop me a review. It means the world to me to hear what you're thinking.**

**Thanks so much.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Still don't own High School Musical.**

_Troy opened his eyes very suddenly to focus his gaze on the dense stone beneath him. His face was pressed heavily into his hands, his elbows resting on his knees, his entire stature a display of broken despair. Troy's eyes wearily followed the circular path of a lone ant finding freedom from the oppressive cold and snow outside as the muted voices around him hummed and echoed in his unhearing ears. _

_Troy gave a heavy sigh. Despite not actually knowing where he was or what he was doing, the miserable emotions residing within him were enough to tell him that he didn't want to find out._

_But, unable to resist, Troy gathered the little strength – both emotional and physical – that he had left within him and slowly lifted his head and straightened his back. Looking around, he was surprised by how unsurprised he was to find himself in these unusual surroundings._

_He sat in a small, one-room church sanctuary. The pews around him scattered with a few other mourners, all from the local village and all dressed in black. The men were wearing varied versions of the classic button cutaway frock coat, a double breasted, knee-length fitted coat that was pulled at the seam to accentuate the popularly small waste line. These coats were worn over a high collar frock and bowtie and most had black bowler hats adorning their well manicured heads. The few women that were in the congregation wore either wool or tweed shirtwaist suits which were two piece dresses, the top of which being a bodice tailored to imitate a man's shirt with a high collar, the skirt straight cut and ankle length. _

_Mourning jewelry was worn by the mother and sisters of the deceased, a small, black necklace made of black beads and a black cross. The diminished family (only two children remained) sat perched in the front pew, trying to stifle their heavy flow of tears. The death of their son and brother, Travers, had come very unexpectedly and they were all taking it rather poorly. _

_The accident had happened just two days previously. Travers had been walking home from town after buying soap from the general store when he ran into some old friends from school. The boys started horsing around, like boys do, when they decided it would be good fun to throw rocks around. As they traveled through the busy town streets, it seemed humorous to see the women shriek and jump out of the way when a stone whizzed past. _

_Unfortunately it was one of these stones, a larger one found in an uncultivated garden, struck Travers squarely on the head. He instantly fell to the ground, unconscious. The other two boys, frightened by this, quickly scooped him up and ran him home. _

_But it was too late. His fall made fatal the internal damage that had been laid upon his brain when the rock struck his skull. Travers died shortly after._

_At the sound of the anguished wail of Travers's mother, Troy decided he could not be immersed in this type of despair a moment longer. Standing, he quietly shuffled out of his pew and marched out of the cold, drafty church, his heals echoing deafeningly with every step, and into the bitter, windy street. _

_Closing the door behind him, Troy's eyes were instantly stung by the snow that whipped past, clinging to his hair and causing his exposed skin to burn. Troy remained on the front step of the church for a moment to gather his thoughts and figure out where he was to go next when he suddenly heard a voice that, despite the thick British accent, had a ring of familiarity to it._

"_I can't go in there, Ryan," the female voice's whisper seemed to travel with the breeze as though it were being deliberately carried directly to Troy's ear._

"_Rubbish. This could be your only chance, aren't you going to give it you're all?" a male responded._

_Intrigued, Troy crouched near the corner of the church, being sure to stay out of site, and listened in on this conversation very intently._

"_They already think I'm barmy!" the girl responded, the anxiety evident in her tone of voice. "If I so much as go in to that church, let alone do anything to the body, they'll surely lynch me!"_

"_And why does that frighten you? It's not like you'll die."_

"_Then they'll accuse me of being a witch!"_

"_But if it works, you wont be around long enough for them to accuse you," the boy reasoned in an argument that Troy did not understand in the least, though the casual talk of defiling the deceased churned his stomach rather unpleasantly._

_The girl sighed, "Fine! But I'll wait until the church clears out a bit."_

_At this point the wind gave a mighty shift in direction, effectively stifling the conversation that Troy was listening in on. Leaning his back against the stone wall of the church, Troy closed his eyes and breathed heavily as the horrendous words he'd overheard circled around his brain, 'this could be your only chance – they already think I'm barmy – they'll accuse me of being a witch –'. _

_Stomach still churning slightly, Troy kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he took slow, steadying breaths. He was unsure how long he stayed in that position but before he knew it their was a colossal shuffling of footsteps as the church door opened with a hefty shove. The service had ended and all the attendees were leaving, daring to speak only in hushed tones as they slowly trudged their way through the increasing snow to reach the warmth of their homes. Finally, the last person left the small building, leaving Troy with only the sound of the whooshing wind and his repeating thoughts to occupy him._

'_They'll surely lynch me–'_

_Whoosh._

'_-It's not like you'll die–'_

_Whoosh._

'_-It's not like you'll die–'_

_Whoosh._

Art Deco

"Psst."

"Pssssst, Troy! Wake up!" a harsh whisper said near Troy's ear. "Pssst!"

Troy opened one eye cautiously, half expecting to see swirling snow decorating a countryside landscape. But he was instead greeted with the disapproving look of his girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, glaring down at him from her position at her desk in the row next to his.

Troy sighed and sat up, wiping drool from his face.

"Ah, Mr. Bolton. How nice of you to join the waking world," Ms. Darbus snarled loudly from her raised platform in the front of the classroom.

"My pleasure," Troy mumbled sarcastically while rolling his sleepy eyes.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Ms. Darbus demanded, her irritation quickly growing into anger. "Detention, Mr. Bolton, my room, after school."

With a heavy sigh, Troy, once again, tuned out the voice of his teacher as he threw himself back in his seat with frustration. A couple of the students around him were shooting sympathetic looks in his direction, including his best friend Chad Danforth who was now making obscene gestures to Ms. Darbus's back. But Troy didn't notice any of this, for his gaze had fallen on Sharpay who, he was surprised and pleased to find, was looking back at him with a curious expression on her face.

Troy stared desperately into Sharpays deep, despairing eyes, searching for the answer to a question that he could not articulate but he knew he was a part of. Images from his dream flashed vividly through his minds eye. The dark stone church, the mourning clothes, the wail of a heartbroken mother and that voice. That familiar voice. '–_they already think I'm barmy–'_.

His ears filled with the wailing of the wind, goosebumps ran up and down his arms from the cold that seemed to build from inside of him. He held Sharpay's gaze with a ferocity he didn't understand, unable and unwilling to break it for she seemed to understand more than he did. _'–They'll surely lynch me–'_

He tried to tell himself that it had only been a dream, that it was just his mind taking advantage of his untapped creativity. But he knew, deep, deep down – deep where his stomach had never quite stopped its churning, down where the cold and fear and curiosity and excitement originated from – he knew that it is more than just a dream. _'-It's not like you'll die–'_. And it came from more than just his own imagination.

RRRIING!

Troy started at the sound of the bell, accidentally shoving his book onto the floor with a loud crash. Overwhelmed with an unknown source of anxiety, distress, confusion and fear, Troy busied himself gathering his things, glad to have finally broken the connection between himself and Sharpay. Shoving his book into his bag, he couldn't resist glancing once more in the direction of Sharpay's desk, curiosity getting the better of him, but was not surprised, though disappointed nonetheless, to see that she had already disappeared from the room.

/

Sharpay stalked through the empty hallways of East High School with the latest musical audition piece clutched in her hand and one intention on her mind. The bell had rung a good ten minutes ago but she wanted to be sure to catch Ms. Darbus alone. Bursting through the auditorium doors, Sharpay scowled when she saw the lights shining brightly on the stage and a small handful of students mulling around, trying to appear busier than they actually were as they fulfilled their detention hours.

"Ms. Darbus?" She called dramatically, catching the attention of most of her classmates on the stage, though she deemed them unworthy of her acknowledgement. "Ms. Darbus?"

Sharpay started slowly down the long center aisle toward the stage as she continued to call her teachers name. She'd been hoping to convince Ms. Darbus to change the key for the audition piece so as to better suit her vocal range but she wasn't all too thrilled about doing this with an audience.

"Ms. Darbus, I was hoping we could talk about this – oh my God!" Sharpay gasped, her eyes finally falling on the half finished set on stage. "What do you think you're doing?"

Troy looked up from where he'd been scooting an armchair around, attempting to refigure the furniture.

"What?" he asked, truly confused. "I'm dressing the set, just like Ms. Darbus asked me to do."

Sharpay narrowed her eyes angrily. "But this play takes place during 1894, you can't use that chair!"

Sharpay flapped her arms in irritation and scurried onto the stage to gesture wildly at the offending chair. Troy smiled and stood, crossing his arms over his chest and adopting a casual stance as he watched her antics in bemusement. After she seemed to have calmed down, Troy fixed her with a challenging gaze and calmly said, "So?"

"So?!" She shrieked. "This chair is art deco. It wasn't created until the 1920's! See how this fabric was so obviously influenced by Aztec symbols, and the shape is very geometric-modern?"

Troy studied the chair curiously. It's back was rounded into a wide arc, a motif that seemed to be accentuated throughout the whole frame. The arms and cushion were both stuffed with a stiff, unforgiving material. The fabric was worn velvet, its color an unappealing shade of brown and the legs and frame were both made of a stained wood, very simply carved. In short, this was the ugliest chair Troy had ever seen.

Turning his gaze from the chair back to Sharpay, Troy couldn't hide the smile as he coolly repeated, "So?"

"SO?!" Sharpay's face turned a bright red as she tried unsuccessfully to contain her overflowing anger. "This chair, nor any chair carved and conceived in this style, was even in existence during the time of the play. It absolutely _can not_ be here!"

Sharpay stood very rigidly, glaring Troy down, her hands firmly pressed against her hips and her foot stomping on each point for good measure. Conversely, Troy stood across from her, his arms crossed and his expression carefully set to show a disbelief that he knew would drive Sharpay mad.

Troy chuckled lightly, getting joy out of raising this hidden passion out of her. It wasn't often that Sharpay allowed any strong emotions to be displayed for others to see, even less often that she lost control of said emotions, so instead of feeling bad about making her angry, Troy was inwardly enjoying the effect his apathy had on her.

"And what makes you such an expert?" he asked, keeping his gaze intently on hers.

"What – I – well –" Sharpay suddenly felt as though she'd been broken out of a trance as she realized that she had very nearly revealed her biggest secret. To the very last person that should ever know, no less. Startled that she had let her guard down so easily, Sharpay quickly dropped her hand which had been pointing at Troy accusingly and started to back away.

Troy immediately knew something had changed, he could practically feel the wall that Sharpay had formed between them. He, too, dropped his arms, wishing to appear less threatening.

"Actually," Sharpay whispered, "I have to go." And with that she spun on her heal and ran through the wings and out of the auditorium.

"Sharpay!" Troy called, regret filling his voice. "I'm sorry!"

But she had already gone.

/

Sharpay sat brooding in her darkened kitchen sipping a steaming mug of tea. She'd come home very agitated but refused to speak about it with anyone, keeping her mouth stubbornly shut whenever Ryan or her mother asked her about it. Dinner was a silent affair as the three members of the small, ageless family were consumed by their own fervent thoughts.

After dinner they each separated quickly. Ryan was now locked in his room, preferring to be alone, as was their mother. And Sharpay, hardly aware of her surroundings, had remained in the kitchen, marveling at her own sense of emptiness. A feeling so radically different from how she'd felt in the auditorium across from Troy. Then she had felt so fired up, so passionate, she almost thought the emotions would take over her entire being. But now, back in the safety of her home, in the company and stability of her family, she was back to feeling nothing at all.

So immersed was she in these very thoughts, Sharpay almost didn't hear the doorbell ring, breaking the heavy silence and echoing throughout the still house. Sharpay paused, as though she were searching through her memory, trying to recall what that sound meant, before she stood and slowly made her way to the front door.

Expecting to see Mrs. Banks, her eccentric next-door neighbor, with any misdelivered mail, Sharpay simply sighed and yanked the front door open unceremoniously. But instead of being greeted by her neighbor, Sharpay was faced with a grim-looking boy.

"Uh, hey Sharpay,"' Troy said awkwardly as she continued to stare at him in shock, her mouth hanging slack, "I think we should talk."

Pulling herself out of her frozen shock, Sharpay simply swung the door open the rest of the way allowing room for Troy to enter as a series of excuses and lies flooded her brain. The trick now was choosing the best one.

/

**I am SO sorry for not updating sooner! I know this has been an indefensibly long time and I can only hope that all ya'll forgive me. My only excuse is that sometimes life happens and it must be taken more seriously, pulling any spare attention away from trivialities like this. **

**All I'll bore you with is this: when I was five I remember this one day, my mom was on the phone talking to a friend who's brother had just gotten in a car accident. She had warned that bad things happen in threes so stay on the look out and don't be surprised. Even then I thought it was all hogwash but, after these past few weeks, I'm starting to believe her.**

**Now, I just have a few notes on the story.**

**I forgot to mention last chapter: Groves High School is, in fact, a real high school. It is located in Beverly Hills, Michigan where, according to a couple weather sites I studied, it is considerably humid in the warmer months of the year (what with the state being almost entirely surrounded by lakes, I'm assuming).**

**The dream sequence in this chapter took place the winter of 1903 at St. Boniface Cathedral in London, England.**

**Please, I can only beg, leave a review for me. Tell me whether you like it or not, I need to know what you're thinking.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here it finally is, kids. And it's a doosy, just like I promised. Be forewarned, it gets a little tragic and it is pretty long. So, might I suggest you take this moment to scroll to the bottom and open up your comment page right now. That way you can write down your thoughts as you're reading. I find this technique to be very useful as I tend to forget all that I want to say in the time it takes to move the mouse and press the button. Thank you all for waiting so long and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical**

"_Uh, hey Sharpay," Troy said awkwardly as she continued to stare at him in shock, her mouth hanging slack, "I think we should talk."_

_Pulling herself out of her frozen shock, Sharpay simply swung the door open the rest of the way allowing room for Troy to enter as a series of excuses and lies flooded her brain. The trick now was choosing the best one._

The End

Troy sat stiffly, unsure of what to say, in Sharpay's large kitchen. He had a steaming mug of tea clenched between he hands and his eyes kept shifting from Sharpay's steady gaze to the smooth wood table he was sitting at. Sharpay sat across from him, also with a steaming mug of tea though hers was half gone due to her actually drinking it.

She watched Troy's unease and realized playing dumb would be even easier than she thought. This worked to calm her nerves and allowed her to think more clearly; something that obviously wasn't happening for Troy as he opened his mouth for the umpteenth time only to close it again with a confused expression on his face.

Sharpay took another sip of her tea then smiled over the rim.

"You wanted to talk?" She prompted with sugary sweetness in her voice.

Troy cleared his throat and raised his gaze from the table once more to meet Sharpay's.

"Right. Yes. It's just, you see, well, the thing is–" Troy laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck with his mug-warmed hand as he took time to search for the words. Sighing, he dropped his hand heavily and said more to himself, "You're going to think I'm crazy."

"Try me," Sharpay replied softly, inadvertently taking pity on his confusion. Troy glanced up quickly, thrown by the sincerity in her voice. Sincerity was definitely the one thing she'd been lacking since he'd arrived. But with those two words Troy saw that her whole countenance had changed. She was leaning forward, her elbows on the table, her hands unconsciously reaching toward his. And her expression was full of urgency, concern and an understanding that surpassed anything he knew.

Mesmerized by the depth that had suddenly appeared in her eyes, Troy's nervousness suddenly evaporated leaving him with a sense of security strong enough to rid him of his inhibition.

Until he tried to speak again, that is. And then his lack of understanding the situation marred his ability to effectively communicate his thoughts.

"The thing is, I don't really know what exactly is going on. And don't try to deny that you're hiding something, Sharpay, because I know you have a secret that you are keeping from me and I want to know what it is."

Sharpay paused pensively. Leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms, she silently stared defiantly at Troy waiting for him to continue.

Troy, on the other hand, was done talking. He tried to return Sharpay's gaze with equal fervor but there was no way he could stare down the master. Instead, he glanced around the room, taking in his surroundings for the first time.

The kitchen was a good size; on the large side, but not overwhelming. The countertops were a beautiful dark granite and they rested on top of dark-stained wood cabinetry along two of the walls. The backsplash was tiled in a muddle of browns that somehow worked to bring the entire space together and all the appliances were expensive looking stainless steal. On the third wall, the one that bordered the outdoors, Troy was surprised to see an old-fashioned, wood burning stone hearth that opened directly onto the floor in the kitchen.

Troy smiled to himself when he saw the clutter that adorned the counters. For some reason he's expected the Evans home to be in pristine condition, not a single knickknack out of place. But not only was their a marked lack of stereotypically expensive knickknacks, but there was also a cluttered mess of papers, crumbs leftover from lunch and an inordinate amount of mismatched ceramic containers, some chipped and broken, others just plain ugly.

"What?"

Troy started at the harshness in Sharpay's voice. He'd forgotten she'd been watching him. Looking back at her, he was surprised to see her mask pulled over her face once more as she fixed him with an annoyed expression.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" he quickly exclaimed, more out of self defense than as a true answer. "What's that?" He inclined his head toward an ancient looking pendant that was sitting casually on the counter next to the messy stack of unopened mail. The pendant was rather large and shaped into an intricate design of flowers, leaves, stars and even a few of what looked to be jewels. All of this bordered a royal blue center embedded with three severely tarnished fleurs-de-lis and topped with the outline of a royal crown placed majestically above all the other elements.

His curiosity peaked, Troy stood and started toward the pendant, wanting to give it a closer inspection.

"NO!" Sharpay shrieked, jumping out of her chair and knocking Troy to the side in order to grab a hold of the ornament before he could. Caught off guard, Troy lost his footing and immediately went crashing to the floor bringing the stool sitting at the island down with him, all with a resonating crash.

"Ow! Shit!" Troy grabbed his left arm half expecting blood to be flowing freely as a searing pain tore through his muscle. But there was no blood beneath his fingers and no mark where he was sure his arm must have scraped across the counter. All he could see was an intense redness that had broken out on his skin giving off heat as the burning sensation quickly faded.

"What the…?" After examining his unexplainable wound, Troy looked up at Sharpay questioningly, for this strange phenomena had happened once before with her. Taking in her wide eyed surprise which quickly gave way to nervous anxiety, Troy knew that she had the answers.

"Sharpay?"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no…" She said the words so quietly that Troy could hardly hear her voice, though he could clearly see the rapid, successive movement of her lips as she slowly shook her head back and forth in time to the words. Clutching the pendant securely to her chest, Sharpay backed away from Troy with such caution he felt as though he'd become a diseased invalid that she was afraid to approach.

"Sharpay!"

"I think it's time for you to go, Troy." Troy glanced over to the entrance into the kitchen and saw Ryan standing inside the archway serenely scanning the damage that had been done. His arms were crossed over his chest in a display of dominance and there was no sign of his usual cheery disposition on his face.

Troy nodded silently as he scrambled to a standing position. He started to leave but stopped himself to turn to Sharpay, still holding the pendant and staring uneasily at the floor, and said, "Sharpay, I don't know what it is that I did, but I'm sorry. I never meant to upset you. I just wish you would tell me what's going on." Getting no response, Troy disappointedly turned on his heal and left the Evan's alone in their kitchen.

/

"_NO! Let them go! They have nothing to do with this!" Vivian screamed hysterically at the Officer of the French Imperial Guard who was coarsely grabbing hold of her two children and attempting to drag them out of their small, one-room flat in Paris. "Let GO!" She lunged forward precariously and latched onto the officers arm, attempting with all her might to pry his fingers from around Sharpay's frail arm. All three members of the small family were screaming and struggling and bawling with fright._

"_You will stop that this instant!" Another officer bellowed as he took the butt of his rifle and bashed it against Vivian's head, knocking her to the dirt-incrusted floor and away from the offending statesmen._

"_Please," she sobbed, clutching her bleeding head with one hand as her other hand stretched on the floor toward the officer in an act of compliance. "Please, just let them go. Please, please. They did nothing. Please don't, please don't, please, please don't…" She seemed to have lost control over what came out of her mouth as she babbled her pleas through the tears and snot that were flowing freely and immodestly down her grimy cheeks._

_The officer, dressed in his uniform of dark blue wool trousers and a double-breasted waste-length coat, all trimmed in gold and ornamented with countless medals of honor awarded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte himself, pulled out of his sleeve a rolled up piece of parchment paper secured by a red ribbon tied in a perfect bow around the roll. Ignoring the sobs and wails coming from the terrified teenagers as well as the whimpers of a barely conscious women in intense pain, he opened the paper and began to read._

"_Madam Evans-Bourbon, you are hereby charged with conspiracy to kill the Emperor of France, punishable by death by hanging."_

"_NO!" Sharpay screamed in a full panic. She wriggled her one arm free and quickly jabbed her elbow into the protruding gut of the officer holding her back who contracted painfully from the assault. Taking advantage of his moment of breathlessness, Sharpay and Ryan both wrenched themselves free of his grasp and scurried to their mother's side._

"_Sebastien, get up! Grab those two!" The officer snapped at his subordinate, who was currently doubled over, gasping for air._

"_Come on, mom, you have to get up," Sharpay whispered urgently as she and Ryan both grabbed her under the arms and attempted to pull her up._

"_You stupid little retches," the officer barked at them. "You think you can escape from us?" The sound of his taunting laughter cut through any anguished noises that escaped from the twins._

_Ignoring the fate that they knew to be absolute, Ryan and Sharpay continued to struggle with the heavy bulk of their motionless mother as their hearts pounded in their chests and their blood pumped in their ears, making any noise slow in reaching their brains._

_Still laughing, the officer blocked the doorway and barked at Sebastien to grab hold of the kids. Puffing and with a red face, the winded officer barreled over to the anxious teenagers and yanked them once more to a standing position, pulling them forcefully away from their mother._

"_Throw them in the bus along with their mother. That's defiance of an Officer of the State, that is. Punishable by death, I do believe. Of course, I'd expect no less from a Bourbon. You all are getting what you deserve."_

_Sebastien yanked the twins, kicking and screaming, out of their home and threw them into the waiting bus on the street. Slamming the door shut behind them, they were securely imprisoned behind the metal bars that blocked the windows. A few moments later the door opened for Vivian to be shoved through and slammed closed again, once more trapping them inside the horse drawn bus to be slowly dragged to their deaths._

/

Troy stepped through the front door of his house deep in contemplation. He just didn't get what was going on and, rather than clearing up his confusion, this last interaction with Sharpay had left him even more lost than before. Annoyed and thoroughly distracted, Troy walked straight past his parents who were both in the kitchen doing the dishes together.

"Hey Troy!" Jack called as his son walked past and started heading up the stairs. "How about you get some shorts on, we'll play some one on one before it gets dark." It wasn't a question.

It took a moment before the words registered in Troy's brain, by which time he was at the top of the stairs and fully prepared to do nothing for the rest of the evening. The thought of working up a sweat was not well received.

"I don't know dad," he called back. "I think I'm going to go to bed."

"Nonsense," Jack laughed. "If you're going to be an NBA superstar, you need to practice every day. Now, hurry up and change. I'll be outside."

Troy sighed, "Sure, dad." Lowering his head, he trudged into his room and put on the first pair of shorts he could find. He didn't even want to be an NBA superstar.

/

"_Shut up!" Another smack to the back of Vivians head. She was beginning to lose count of how many times she'd been hit in the past three days. She hastily settled her whimpering to the best of her ability. She couldn't completely stop, but she was able to quiet enough to be able to hear the awed rumblings of the Parisian crowd around her. Normally she would be blindfolded at this point but Napoleon, always fearful of a coup d'etat especially from the Bourbons, had thought of a rather interesting way to make his point to the rest of the Bourbon's living in squalor in Paris's underbelly. Vivian was going to have to watch the hangings of her children before she, too, followed in death._

"_Please God, oh please. We did nothing wrong. Please, I'll do anything, please, oh please, please," Vivian's chanting of pleas under her breath had begun again. This was a habit she'd formed in the few short day's she, Ryan and Sharpay had been held in prison. "Please let them keep their lives, please, God please, I'll do anything you ask of me. I'll give anything you want, just don't let them die for something I didn't do, please, please…"_

_As much as she didn't want to watch the proceedings, it was as though she was physically incapable of looking away. Sharpay and Ryan stood stock still on the platform as the nooses were fitted around their heads. They weren't even crying, having resigned themselves to their fate. Vivian felt aw for her children as they bravely took in their last moments of life. She wished she had that kind of strength, though she was glad her kids did._

"_Please God, please, oh please," She continued to chant, completely unawares._

_The crowd of hundreds surrounding around the platform suddenly hushed and Vivian realized that this was the last moment. She took in a deep breath, her heart suspended in her throat, her eyes glued to her children. Then the executioner yanked the lever with a mighty heave and Ryan and Sharpay both fell through the hole in the floor as the wood suspension rod holding the noose's groaned under the sudden weight._

_Vivian screamed a blood curdling scream and her knees buckled from underneath her. "NO! NO, NOOOO!" The tears poured red hot down her face as she watched the two lifeless bodies of her children swing in the light breeze._

_The crowd was silent, not a single noise made by anyone. It was as though every single person had inhaled a deep breath and had yet to release it. The only sound breaking this oppressive silence was Vivian's anguished wails._

_The bodies were cut down, each making a sickening thud as they landed on the Earth below and a knew noose was quickly put into place. Vivian slowly stopped her wailing, only to replace it with her chant. The executioner guided her to her position on the platform and made sure she remained standing as she no longer had control over her own movements. Her eyes were wide open but it was clear she could no longer see anything in front of her. The only thing her eyes could see were her kids, swinging by their necks. A fate that was seconds away for herself._

_She continued her chant._

_The squeal of the lever sounded and the floor dropped from beneath her. Vivian felt something tighten around her neck and she heard the groan of the suspension beam as the crowd finally broke its unusual silence to cheer uproariously._

_And then there was nothing._

/

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Ryan and Sharpay were sitting on Sharpay's bed in her room, she hadn't spoken a word since Troy had left. The pendant was laid gently on her nightstand. She shook her head no.

"Come on, Sharpay. He obviously doesn't know what the pendant is. I'm sure he was just curious. I mean, it _is_ a little bit conspicuous in our kitchen."

Sharpay sighed. "I know. You're right. I just got so scared."

Ryan nodded his understanding and put his arm comfortingly around his sisters' shoulders and hugged her close. Sharpay rested her head in the crook of his neck and welcomed the strength that he exuded in such a silent grace.

"It's just, that pendant is the only thing we have left. It's what I woke up with, it's what reminds me of where we came from."

Again, Ryan nodded his understanding, but remained silent. Sometimes it is just cathartic to talk, and that is what he was letting Sharpay do.

"I don't know why I'm pushing Troy away. He's my chance, isn't he? But I've thought about it over and over. I just can't do it. I can't do it to him. I can't be the cause of his death."

"Sharpay?" Ryan said softly. He hesitated slightly before continuing with his thought. "Don't you think he has a right to know? I mean, I know mom always told us not to tell anybody but I really don't think that applies here."

Sharpay pulled her head up and turned to Ryan with furrowed eyes and a dubious expression. "What? I'm just supposed to tell him that I've been alive for over 200 years and that if he kisses me then he'll be granting me my greatest wish for the low, low price of his life? I don't think so. For one, he'd never believe me and for another, that would be the last straw. He'd know exactly why he shouldn't ever kiss me."

"I don't know," Ryan replied almost conspiratorially. "I just have a good feeling about this. I really think you should tell him."

Sharpay sighed exasperatedly and slumped back onto her bed to think.

/

_Vivian opened her eyes and was temporarily blinded by the brilliant sunlight. She sat up tenderly and put a hand to the back of her head expecting to find bumps and dried blood from all the beatings. But nothing was there. Confused, she brought her hand in front of her face and studied it as though it had the answers. Still, nothing._

_Then she remembered. The swinging bodies, the noose around her neck, the falling, the cheering, the…death?_

_Scrambling to her feet, Vivian pushed all her questions to the back of her mind as she began to search, calling out, "Ryan? Sharpay? Ryan? Sharpay?" _

_But they weren't there. It was just Vivian._

_She stopped to catch her breath and finally took in her surroundings. She was in the middle of an open field and judging by the vegetation and shrubbery that were growing freely, it appeared to be a unoccupied. Searching the distance, Vivian was baffled to see nothing. The land just seemed to go on forever. Not even a tree was growing to block her view of the horizon. This was not the kind of world she knew of. Scared and disappointed, Vivian fell back down to the ground and dissolved into hopeless tears._

"_Giving up so soon?"_

_Vivian snapped her head up and searched for the source of the voice but she couldn't see anything._

"_You've got this far, you can't give up now."_

_She looked in the other direction, still expecting to find somebody. But still, there wasn't a single sole around her._

"_Vivian, stop crying, dear."_

_Vivian instantly stopped crying as an irrational bubble of hope started to grow within her chest._

"_Is it true that you said you would do anything to keep your children alive?"_

"_Yes," Vivian croaked, her voice hoarse, as she nodded her head fervently. "Yes, yes it is," she repeated more robustly. She stood up, though she still didn't know which way to look when talking to this voice._

"_Now listen, Vivian, because I am going to give you two choices. And I want you to remember that what sounds like the best choice may not in actuality be the best choice. But it is entirely up to you. Do you understand?"_

"_Yes," she spoke confidently this time, the bubble of hope continuing to grow._

"_Your first choice is to leave circumstances and consequences as they are and allow your sole and the soles of your children to pass on in peace."_

_Images of Ryan and Sharpay's bodies floated into Vivian's head and the sound of the thud they made as they fell to the ground resonated in her ears causing her stomach to churn and reality to finally hit. They were all dead. And she was the reason. If she had been able to get Ryan and Sharpay out of the city when there was still a chance then they would be alive. In essence, she had killed her children._

_Vivian groaned and clutched at her upset stomach as she struggled to remove the horrific images from her mind._

"_Your second choice is for all three of you to get your lives back bearing in mind that you won't get this for free. Should you choose this option, you will be given back your lives but you must pay with your own mortality and that of your children's. Think about it Vivian, for you only get to choose once."_

_Hearing these words, Vivian's heart rose and the bubble of hope filled her entire being. "But there is nothing to think about, is there?" Vivian asked in ecstasy. "I choose the second option. I choose life."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_There is no doubt in my mind," she laughed lightheartedly. "I'll be able to return to my children the one thing I took away from them."_

"_And in doing so you'll be taking away the one thing you gave to them."_

"_What? Death? But they shouldn't have died. This whole thing was never supposed to happen. No, I choose the second option."_

"_Yes madam. Life it is. I'm going to send you on now, I'm afraid you will not remember this exchange once you've completely passed back to the other side. Good luck."_

_Vivian smiled and wrapped her arms around herself, overjoyed at the thought of seeing her children again._

_And then there was nothing._

/

Troy opened his eyes and was surprised to see that the sun was just breaking the horizon. He hardly had a thought in his brain as he jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and silently tiptoed out of the house. Breaking into a run, his feet carried him to his destination of their own accord. After a good ten minutes of steady jogging he finally slowed to a walking pace to catch his breath. The crunching of the gravel beneath his feet finally woke his senses to his surroundings.

He was in the park where he'd first stepped into the sea of mystery. Thinking back he envied his time on the bank of that sea, for now he was floundering in the thick waters, unable to find a lifeboat.

"Troy?" a small confused voice said from up ahead, the same voice that had been echoing through his brain for the past week.

"Sharpay? What are you doing here?"

Sighing sadly, she quickly averted her gaze to the ground. "Just thinking," she said softly, almost too softly for him to hear.

Troy smiled to himself as he remembered the last time they'd been in this position. This time he wasn't afraid. He knew that this is where he was meant to be.

Approaching the bench that Sharpay was sitting on, he slowly lowered himself into the space next to her and looked at the well manicured field in front of them.

"Tell me what is going on," he said softly.

Sharpay sighed, "You're going to think I'm crazy."

"Try me."

Sharpay took a deep breath and began, "It happened when I was sixteen."

"Wait, aren't you sixteen now?"

"Don't interrupt, and yes, I'm sixteen now. What I meant was when I had first turned sixteen, in 1804."

Troy's eyes snapped up and he turned his head to look at Sharpay, expecting to see a mocking grin on her face. But it was as serious as it ever was as she continued to stare into the field in front of them. Sharpay paused, giving him time to interrupt if he so chose but he didn't. He kept his mouth shut and allowed her to continue as he stared at her face for any sign of dishonesty. It never came.

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know what happened. We all just kind of assume that we lived normal lives up until that day but we remember nothing from beforehand. What I do know is that we woke up in a ditch, surrounded by rotting corpses. The smell was nothing you could ever imagine, worse than that Shark dissection lab we did in Bio. The only things I had with me, the only clues, were the clothes on my back and that pendant that you had seen in our house."

Sharpay paused, clearly working out her thoughts. Troy knew that he shouldn't believe a word coming out of her mouth, that this was impossible. Nobody can live for two hundred years without aging; it should have been a joke. But Troy continued to watch her face and he knew beyond any reason of a doubt that she was telling the truth.

"Mom said that she remembers something before we woke up. She remembers a voice talking to her in a white room. It explained how we were all given immortal life and that we also each have a one. Someone who, if we were desperate, would be able to bring us to death by a simple kiss. I suppose it brings new meaning to the phrase 'the kiss of death'. I've searched for my one for years and years, and a couple times I believe I'd come close. But they always ended up dead before I could get them to kiss me."

"Like Travers," Troy said suddenly understanding.

Sharpay turned to look at Troy, confusion clouding her features. "How do you know about Travers?" she whispered almost fearfully.

"Oh! Um, well," Troy stuttered but promptly decided to tell her the truth. After all, she was bearing all, he might as well return the favor. "I've been having these dreams with you and Ryan in them. At first I thought they were just ordinary dreams and that I'd spent way too much time thinking about you. But they were so detailed, so vivid. And they seem to fit with everything that you've been telling me."

Sharpay thought about that for a second then asked, "You've been thinking about me?"

Troy's face broke into a bashful grin and he turned away from her gaze to look at the field once more. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Only because you're so damn confusing."

Sharpay smiled to herself and returned her gaze to the field as well. "Anyway, the problem with this whole scenario, besides the obvious, is that I'm not the only one who dies when my one kisses me. He has to die too." Sharpay took a deep breath to steady her nerves as she prepared to say this next part. "Troy? I think you are my one."

Troy sucked in a breath of air and held it as he repeated her words in his head, comprehension coming in small waves.

Seeing the look on his face, Sharpay quickly tried to ease his shock but her words came out so rushed that they ended up running together as she said, "But don't worry, I'm not asking you to kiss me, I've given this a lot of thought and I'm ok with not dying because no matter what I can't be the cause of somebody else's death and I would never ask you to do that for me especially because we hardly know each other, well in the sense that –"

"Sharpay! Calm down, don't worry. I'm not going to run away screaming."

"But - why? I just told you that I've been alive for 200 years and I could kill you with one kiss."

"That doesn't scare me," he said with a small smile. Reaching over he grabbed her small hand and enclosed it firmly in his two larger hands. They were both surprised that there was no burning where their skin made contact.

Sharpay stared down at their hands incredulously. "But, the burning. Where is it? I don't understand."

Troy shook his head slightly amused, "Neither do I."

They sat like that for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts as they watched the sun slowly rise higher into the sky and bathe them in its warmth. Sharpay marveled at how safe she felt and how at peace. The encumbering feeling of entrapment that had plagued her existence for as long as she could remember had been temporarily lifted. She looked at the world with happier eyes, even if just for this moment, as she enjoyed the comfort and security that Troy brought to her.

Pretty soon the sun had risen above the clouds and the birds were beginning to chirp as they waited for their mothers to bring home their breakfast. They'd been sitting in silence the whole time.

Troy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'll do it," he said, breaking the still that had settled over them.

"Do what?"

"I'll kiss you."

"What?! No, I never asked you to. I can't let you do it. What about your future, Troy? What about your family? What about your life?"

Troy smiled softly, his thumb rubbed the back of her hand soothingly. "Sharpay, this is what I am meant to do. This is what I was born to do."

Sharpay started to protest but Troy silenced her with a stern look before continuing.

"You know how in school our teachers are constantly telling us to picture our futures. How everything we do is in preparation for our future and we should be constantly striving to achieve whatever goal it is that we have set for ourselves?"

Sharpay silently nodded her understanding. "Well, I could never see a future for myself. And not in that way where I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do, I had always known that I didn't have a future. Sure, other people could see my future, Gabby saw us going to the same college together, getting married young and having hoards of kids. Ms. Darbus saw me fulfilling some kind of drama dream and then bringing her fame by association. And my dad saw me being drafted into the NBA and living a lavish life buying him whatever he wanted. But I saw none of those things."

"No Troy, no. You can't," Sharpay whispered, shaking her head repeatedly as she listened to what he was saying.

"But listening to everything that you said just made everything come together. I just know, you're going to have to trust me. I can feel it in my gut, this is what I'm meant to do. This is what I was born to do. This is what I want to do."

As he was talking Troy hadn't been able to look at Sharpay for fear that he would stop talking and leave everything unsaid. Now that he was done he lifted his gaze and stared into Sharpays wide eyes. She seemed to be at a loss for words, though he was sure her next words would simply be in protest.

And so, Troy took this opportunity to lean forward and press his lips firmly against hers. She tried to push him away but he had one of her hands already in his own and he wrapped the other firmly around her neck, willing her to stay. He deepened the kiss and Sharpay reluctantly surrendered to it as instinct took over and passion ruled all.

Pulling away, Troy left his hand on the back of her neck and smiled at her warmly, fully enjoying the proximity in which they were sitting, their two bodies taking up half the space they had previously occupied.

But Sharpay's smile instantly fell as she remembered the implications of what just happened. She opened her mouth to yell but Troy leaned in once more and smothered any words with another kiss. This time Sharpay didn't resist and she welcomed his kiss as their tongues playfully darted about. Taking his time, Troy was slow to release her neck and when he did they were both slightly out of breath. They sat for a moment smiling at each other and holding hands. But, again, Sharpay's smile soon faded and anxiety took its place.

"So, what do you think happens next?"

"I don't know," Troy shrugged, unable to keep the worry out of his tone.

They waited a while longer, each expecting the worst and hoping for the best. Troy put his arm protectively around Sharpay's shoulders and she scooted closer so that their thighs were pressed tightly together and they could feel the heavy pounding of each other's hearts.

Sharpay squeezed her eyes shut knowing that this was or last moment and happy that she was with Troy. Troy continued to rub the back of her hand soothingly as he took calm, steadying breaths.

And then there was nothing.

/

**In case you are wondering, this last dream sequence took place during the First Empire in France when Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor. You might find it interesting to know that there had, in fact, been a Bourbon (Duke of Enghein) that had been accused of conspiring to kill Napoleon. He was tried and executed in 1804 in an attempt to discourage any thoughts of uprising within the remaining Bourbon clan.**

**Also, the pendant that is described in the first scene is the Bourbon family crest.**

**I know, I'm a nerd.**

**I've got one more chapter for you chickies! Be excited.**

**But in the mean time, please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.**

_Sharpay squeezed her eyes shut knowing that this was her last moment and happy that she was with Troy. Troy continued to rub the back of her hand soothingly as he took calm, steadying breaths._

_And then there was nothing._

A New Beginning

The wind gushed around her, whipping her long hair in front of her face and blowing it into tangled knots. Once or twice she tried to grab hold and tame the out of control mess but the incredible wind worked her hair loose of her grip within seconds. Giving up, she brought her hands to her stomach and hugged herself tightly. The darkness was overwhelming and with it came a devastating sense of loneliness. She couldn't find Troy and no matter how loudly she called his name, the wind managed to smother her voice before it even left her mouth.

The darkness pressed in on her, physically smothering body. The air had become denser because of it. Any movement she tried to make was like molasses and it easily wore her out. Her feet were no longer touching the ground, as there was no longer a ground, nor a sky, nor anything in between. In fact, Sharpay couldn't figure out if she was falling or swimming.

Holding in a sob, she rolled herself into a tight ball hugging her knees tightly to her chest and squeezing her eyes shut. The moment here eyes were closed an image of Troy smiling warmly and lovingly appeared in her mind. She focused on his face finding comfort and calm with it and soon her forbidding surroundings seemed to melt away.

Sharpay started and opened her eyes suddenly as though she'd just jerked awake from a horrifying nightmare. She was sitting on the floor of a small room. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her knees, her heart was pounding heavily in her chest. Troy had his arm wrapped protectively around her, hugging her tightly, almost threatening to never let go. Sharpay breathed a sigh of relief and leaned into his chest, seeking his strength.

"I thought this was supposed to be a field?" Troy whispered sounding slightly confused.

"Hm?"

"Never mind, where do you think we are?"

Sharpay pulled away slightly and glanced around the room. On first impression she had known that it was brightly lit and very white. But as she gave it a closer look she realized that there were many peculiarities she'd never before encountered. Though the room was so well lit, Sharpay could not find a direct source of light; there were no lamps, no ceiling lights, nothing. And the room was certainly a room, they weren't outdoors, yet there didn't seem to be a distinction between the floor, walls and ceiling. It was all one improbable unit that didn't have any beginning or end.

"I remember mom talking about a white room. This must be it."

"Ah, miss Evans. I was beginning to think I'd never see you here."

Startled by the unexpected voice speaking from behind them Troy and Sharpay quickly scrambled to their feet and turned to face their addressor. A small woman dressed very simply was sitting behind a large oak-wood desk. Her hair was pulled back into a conservative bun and her hands were folded firmly on top of her workspace. Through thinly rimmed spectacles she smiled approvingly at the apprehensive teenagers before her.

"Sit," she ordered.

Sharpay turned to Troy in astonishment, she felt her icy mask slip into place as was often the case when she found herself in an unfamiliar situation. Turning back to the woman she was about to comment snarkily about the lack of seats but was cut short by the sight of two hand carved, high backed wooden chairs covered elegant floral fabric.

"Where did those come from?" Sharpay demanded, her voice rising as her sense of control over the situation quickly evaporated. Troy placed his hand on Sharpay's lower back to silently remind her that he was still there, she didn't need to worry.

It seemed to work as Sharpay immediately released the tension in her shoulders and took a deep, calming breath.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. Those chairs have always been there. You just hadn't seen them yet. Now sit."

Confused but not willing to argue the point, Sharpay and Troy both timidly took their seats across from the woman at the desk and waited for her to explain.

"Now, I am very pleased with this outcome. You know Sharpay, we didn't have much hope for you up here."

"What do you mean?" Sharpay asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing bad. We just saw how desperate you were and desperation leads to hasty decisions. But it seems your one was a good match for you. You two seem to balance each other out." The woman smiled.

Sharpay blushed slightly and turned to look at Troy who was already staring at her with an indiscernible expression clouding his features. But he quickly hid them with a smile as he grabbed her hand in his larger one.

Unsettled, Sharpay frowned slightly as she turned back to the woman. "Who are you?"

"I'm sorry, I should have opened with this. I'm Margaret. I will be assisting you two with your next decision."

"Decision?" Troy asked, sitting up straighter in his seat, his attention alerted.

"Yes. You see, you both have done very good things. You, Sharpay," Margaret inclined her head toward Sharpay, "allowed your one the freedom of choice. By disclosing your circumstances as well as your desires you placed his life above your own and allowed him the opportunity to decline. And you, Troy," this time she inclined her head toward Troy, "took this decision into your hands and chose selflessly. You put Sharpay's desires before your own and gave her the one thing she'd been longing for."

"So, is this like a test? We have to make one more decision to determine if we go to Heaven or Hell?" Sharpay asked, fear starting to settle in her stomach once again.

Margaret laughed. "Don't be silly, we already know where you two are going. No, it's not a test. More like a reward. Because of the behavior that both of you have exhibited, we would like to give you a second chance on Earth. Both of you being able to live out your lives and die naturally. Of course," Margaret narrowed her gaze on Sharpay, "if you want to die now that is a perfectly reasonable option. However, you both need to make this decision together."

Sharpay's draw dropped and Troy's face broke out into a wide grin.

"You mean, I'll be able to turn seventeen?"

"And eighteen and twenty-five and eighty," Margaret smiled.

"Well, yes, absolutely!" Sharpay shrieked in delight. "Right Troy?"

"No doubt," he smiled.

"Great!" Margaret enthused. "I was hoping you would say that."

"Great!" Sharpay giggled.

"Great." Troy squeezed Sharpay's hand.

"Shit." Margaret said, face falling slightly. "I forgot to tell you your conditions. You will not be able to return to your homes, neither of you. Everybody who knew you will no longer have any recollection of your existence. You must start afresh and you must start alone."

"Oh," Sharpay sat back in her chair disappointed.

"Wait, what?" Troy sat up in his chair in confusion.

"But you two are ok with that, yes?"

"Well, we should probably discuss–" Sharpay began.

"Excellent. Good luck," Margaret beamed brightly at the stunned teenagers and waved goodbye as she, along with the rest of Troy and Sharpay's surrounding's, faded away.

"Wait!" Sharpay yelled as she jumped up from her chair angrily. But it was too late. Margaret had disappeared along with the desk, the chairs and the room that they were in. Sharpay grabbed Troy's hand as they found themselves existing in a world of nothingness. There was no floor that they were standing on, just as there was no air that they were breathing and no objects that they were surrounded by. But this paradox only lasted a moment before they were once again thrown into the overwhelming darkness and wind. Alone, together.

/

Sharpay opened her eyes and was surprised to see the park in front of her with its familiarly manicured lawn and brightly colored flowers bordering the graveled path. Troy sighed next to her and she slumped down in disappointment.

"It didn't work?" Sharpay asked.

"I can't remember," Troy replied softly.

Sharpay rolled her eyes in irritation and jumped to her feet. "Whatever," she sighed as she started to stalk away. Troy watched her retreating form with sad eyes, feeling that despite everything she was walking away from him forever. Troy groaned and dropped his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

What had just happened?

"You coming?" Sharpay's harsh voice barked.

Troy's head snapped up in surprise and he saw Sharpay standing ten paces ahead of him with her arms crossed beneath her glaring gaze and her foot tapping impatiently.

"Oh!" Troy quickly jumped to his feet and jogged to Sharpay's side. "Where are we going?"

"To my house!" she replied as if this had been predetermined. "I figure we might as well have a good breakfast as long as we're still alive."

The two walked in silence for the remainder of the journey, their pace brisk enough to deter any lengthy discussions. Troy's thoughts were consumed by what he couldn't remember happen after the kiss. He was sure something had gone down but it was just beyond his conscious memory for him to recall. Sharpay seemed to be fuming inwardly as she led the way with pounding footsteps and heaving breaths.

It wasn't long before they reached the Evan's mansion where Sharpay paused at the front door to rummage in her purse for her house keys.

"Crap. I could have sworn I had them," she muttered to herself, coming up empty handed. "How did I lock the door without them?"

With a shrug of dismissal, she simply reached over and rang the doorbell. "Ryan should be up by now," she said in explanation.

They waited a few minutes before the tell-tale sound of the lock being undone was heard. The door opened slowly to reveal a sleepy looking Ryan rubbing his eyes vigorously. After a dramatic yawn, he crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Sharpay with a challenging glare. "Yes?"

"Why weren't you up yet, Ryan? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

Ryan scoffed. "And who the hell are you to tell me what I should be doing?" he asked in an aggressively defensive tone.

Sharpay was taken aback. "What? Sorry, I just meant. Oh, never mind. I just forgot my key, that's why I rang the doorbell. Now, can you please step aside so we can come in?"

Ryans eyes narrowed as he continued to block the door. "Seriously. Who are you?"

"What?"

"And what are you doing here?"

"Ryan, stop playing. This isn't funny." Sharpay's voice was rising in panic.

Troy watched this exchange in confusion, knowing something was not right. He just couldn't quite figure out what was going on.

'_You will not be able to return to your homes, neither of you'_

"Just let us in!" Sharpay yelled moving forward in an attempt to force her way through the opening but Ryan easily blocked her with his strong arms, shoving her away and knocking her to the ground.

"Hey man! What's your problem?" Troy yelled angrily.

"Go Away! Both of you!" Ryan yelled back before slamming the front door closed with such force the entire front porch rattled with the impact.

/

Vivian stopped reading when she heard the doorbell ring.

She had been wrapped up comfortably in a warm blanket in her bedroom reading leisurely as she sipped a warm mug of coffee. But her stomach dropped unexpectedly with the ringing of the doorbell.

Placing her book on her nightstand she slowly stood, taking a moment to readjust the blanket around her, and approached her window. At this angle she couldn't see who was standing on their front porch but she could hear the proceedings. She listened silently, all the while trying to figure the familiar sensation in the pit of her stomach.

The conversation didn't last long and soon the front door was slammed shut, her window rattled from the force. But Vivian did not yet move. Watching the front driveway, she saw two teenagers swiftly walking away. The boy was holding tight to the girls hand, leading her down the driveway as the girl wiped away her tears with her free hand.

Vivian smiled softly to herself before calmly returning to her nightstand and picking up her book once more.

/

"Oh my gosh, you're right," Sharpay gasped. "I remember now."

After the incident at Sharpays house, Troy took her to the nearest coffee shop to buy the largest latté's available. They then continued to wander aimlessly through the city discussing what Troy had slowly begun to recall. Eventually, with contributions from both, they were able to piece together all that was said in the infamous white room.

"So nobody remembers us," Sharpay whispered unable to remove her anxiety from her voice.

"It's like we never existed," Troy agreed.

"We have no family, no home and oh my God we have no money!"

"That's not entirely true," Troy said sensing the unabashed panic that was quickly rising in Sharpay's eyes. "We have whatever cash is in your purse and we have the four dollars that are in my pocket and we have that quarter that's on the ground up ahead."

"Exactly," Sharpay wailed. "We have no money!"

"Fine. But we can't panic. We need to make a plan."

"Right," Sharpay laughed bitterly. "We just need jobs and a place to live and food to eat and clothes to wear. Nothing too difficult to attain when we don't have any money."

"Right," Troy said dejectedly. "We need a plan."

They continued down the street in silence, each pondering where to begin their new lives, neither coming up with a plausible plan. Troy kicked a pebble in frustration and tried to remember what it felt like to live without this fear gnawing through his insides. It was only a few short hours ago that he'd had parents and friends and a house to live in and a bed to sleep in.

Now all he had was Sharpay.

Who was currently flashing somebody.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed as he grabbed her arm and yanked it down, pulling her shirt back down with it.

"Well, hello there little lady. Is there something I can do for you?" A middle aged man with a largely receding hairline and a belly that threatened the workmanship on his designer suit had pulled over to the side of the road. Sitting in his shiny, silver Porsche convertible he leered up at Sharpay with a lustful gaze.

Troy's stomach clenched.

"I'm getting us a ride," Sharpay whispered out of the side of her mouth. Then, putting her hands on the side of the Porsche, Sharpay leaned down seductive, allowing her shirt neckline to fall open and asked in a husky voice, "Room for a passenger?"

The mans eyes lit up in delight. "Sure, let me just put this here in the trunk and you can have the front seat." He anxiously grabbed his briefcase and scrambled out of the car, making room in the passenger seat.

"Thanks!" Sharpay chirped, opening the passenger door and sliding her small body into the seat. But instead of buckling herself in, she quickly scooted into the driver's seat and motioned for Troy to get in next to her. Without hesitating, he sank down into the small car and slammed the door closed just as the man slammed the trunk closed. And with an angry rev of the engine, Sharpay peeled away leaving the man stunned and robbed on the side of the road.

Troy whipped his head around to watch as the man ran after them screaming and waving his arms pathetically and he couldn't help but to laugh. He couldn't tell if it stemmed from the hilarity of the moment or the fear of what was to come but his laughter quickly grew into hysterics which Sharpay promptly joined. Pretty soon they were both laughing so hard it was almost impossible to see where the car was headed and, with a mighty swerve, Sharpay barely missed a pedestrian attempting to cross the road. This brought both of their mirth to a sudden halt, leaving only the sound of the engine and the all too familiar roar of the wind to fill their ears.

Sharpay veered through traffic and took every corner at dangerous speeds to finally reach the freeway entrance, all in record time. She continued to carry them north for half an hour though she had no true destination in mind. Finally, heart still pounding, she pulled over to the side of the freeway and cut the engine. Breathing heavily, her small hands remained clutching the steering wheel as she tried unsuccessfully to clear her thoughts.

"My God, Troy. We just stole a car."

"I know."

They both took deep breaths, staring straight ahead at the endlessly long road before them.

"So what happens now?"

/

**That's it, everybody. Can you believe it? We FINALLY finished this one. Took me long enough, right?**

**I want you all to know that I do have other stories in the works, including the possibility of a sequel to this one (though I make no promises). However, nothing will be posted for a few weeks because I need to be sure that I'll be able to update consistently for ya'll. Just put me on alert or keep an eye out for my next story.**

**But for now I would love it if Everybody would leave me a nice little review. Tell me what you thought of this chapter and this story. And thank you all so much for reading!**

**-R**


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